Richard has his fill of bad senior seasons

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Tennessee offensive lineman Vladimir Richard, right, walks with teammate Chris Walker during a break in practice on Aug. 29.

No one should be happier to begin his senior football season than Vladimir Richard.

And it's not just because of what happened last season when the Vols went 5-7. It's also because of his other senior season.

UT's fifth-year offensive guard played his last senior season for Piper High School in Sunrise, Fla. There was nothing sunny about it.

Piper won the season opener and lost everything else.

That wasn't exactly what he had in mind when his junior season ended with a second-round playoff loss. The team was loaded with experienced, talented players; Richard envisioned a run at a state championship.

The only run his most talented teammates made was to other schools. Their exit cue was a coaching change.

"We had a new coach who had won like one game in two years," Richard said. "Everyone was like, 'Why did we get this coach?'

"Our new principal and him were best friends."

Richard tried to rally the troops. But the troops had other ideas.

"All our senior starters transferred to other schools," Richard say. "I tried to get them to stay. But they were gone."

Richard said he hung around out of loyalty ("I'd always been a Bengal," he said.) and because he wanted to be a positive influence on the younger players, who included just about everybody. What could have been a senior-dominated team suddenly was dependent on freshmen and sophomores.

The disappointment extended beyond the last game. When Richard played in post-season all-star games, the other all-stars were still reveling in the success of their last high school season.

He didn't have much to say.

"What did I have to talk about?" he said. "We won our first game and lost the rest."

The coach didn't last long, according to Richard. Neither did the principal, he said.

Richard's only consolation was that some of his younger teammates later earned college scholarships.

"By me staying, (that helped them) get scholarships," he said. "That made me proud."

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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